UPBEAT FED COMMENT: Delivering his twice-a-year report on monetary policy to Congress, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said he expects the job market to remain robust and inflation to hover around the Fed's 2 percent target for the next few years. Stocks have fallen after Powell's previous major addresses, but not on Tuesday.

U.S. INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION: The Fed said U.S. industrial production, including output at factories, mines and utilities, climbed 0.6 percent in June. It fell 0.5 percent in May after a fire disrupted production of Ford Motor's F-series pickup trucks, America's bestselling vehicle. U.S. manufacturing still looks healthy despite trade conflicts with China, Europe and Canada and a rising dollar that makes U.S. products more expensive abroad.

ANALYST VIEWPOINT: "While earnings and the highly-watched testimony to Senate by Fed chair Powell played a part, movements remained largely muted with the likes of the Dow and the S&P 500 index clocking only moderate gains overnight," Jingyi Pan of IG said in a commentary.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude dropped 34 cents to $67.74 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract was relatively unchanged at $68.08 in New York on Tuesday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, shed 30 cents to $71.86 per barrel.

CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 112.95 yen from 112.83 yen late Tuesday. The euro eased to $1.1654 from $1.1664.